My physical therapist is a guy named Jeffrey Haggquist, who runs a practice in DC called QuistMD. The practice specializes in sports therapy and injury rehabilitation, and ends up attracting a lot of athletes.
A few weeks ago I spied a flyer at the office announcing Dr. Haggquist's ongoing participation as a guest on 106.7 The Fan's sports radio program on Fantasy Football. Every Wednesday Dr. Haggquist presents the Fantasy Football Injury Report, where he discusses the condition of some of the more popular fantasy athletes, and how their injuries may affect their performance, and their FF players' scoring.
One way to build a profile is to talk about yourself or your business to an audience of prospective customers. But the audience who will wilfully sit through it are those who are already highly engaged with you, and are in the process of a purchase decision. If you want the attention of people who do not yet have you in their choice set, but ought to, the conversation has to turn away from what's important to you, and towards what is important to them. This is the strategy behind by-lined articles and columns, white papers, and blog entries (like this one, which starts in the first person but is not about me at all).
I love Dr. Haggquist's promotion because it takes full advantage of what content does best. The objective of any sort of promotion is to reach an audience of prospects, but one that relies on content - like this one - goes much further in that it allows Dr. Haggquist to deliver content that he is uniquely qualified for, and which demonstrates his expertise, shows his personality, builds credibility for his business and positions him as an authority - all at the same time.
Show me an ad that can do that. You can't - they don't.
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